Oh No! She doesn’t want to do a DVD math program.

I had math for Dearie all mapped out. She would finish Singapore through 6B and then go into Video Text Math. Seemed like a solid plan and it is what I have been planning for the last year. Dearie has other ideas.

She told me yesterday that she really would rather have a workbook/textbook combo like she has now. She doesn’t want to have to watch a DVD. So now what do I do?

I have known for a while that she wasn’t thrilled with the idea of doing Video Text, but I thought it was just the unknown (and maybe it is). We had a good discussion about it yesterday and it seems more that she just doesn’t want to change what is working. So now I am back to looking at Algebra Programs. I am looking, but I know which one I will go with. She will stay with Singapore.

The problem that I have with Singapore is that it is really challenging stuff and the teacher’s guides are not that great. Everyone says that you have to be a math person in order to be able to teach it. I am a math person, but I am finding that I learned HOW to do a lot of stuff without learning the WHY behind it. I got stuck when teaching a lesson on percents last week. Now this was at the end of the percent unit and it is a difficult concept, but if I am messing up now how will I be able to teach the harder stuff? I talked to Dearie about it. She didn’t like that I messed up the lesson, but we did work together and I did figure out my mistake and now we both understand the concept better than we would have otherwise. I told her that if we stick with the workbook/textbook combo that we would have more times like this. She said that she didn’t like that. On the other hand, it is good for us to be able to make mistakes and learn how to learn from them.

The up side to staying with Singapore Math? I think that it will motivate Dearie a bit more. It seems to me that she has been “stalling” a bit at math. It’s like she doesn’t want to finish her book. If she has been dreading moving into Video Text, that would make sense. By staying with Singapore, she might go back to her regular pace. Oh, and one other thing: Singapore Math cost about $200 a year less than Video Text Math per year. I’m sure that we can find a better way to spend $200. 🙂

I really like the looks of Life of Fred. I think it would have been a great program for me. I showed a sample to Dearie, and she was very honest about it. She said, “In those kinds of books, I usually just skip the math to get to the story.” She didn’t think that Life of Fred would work for her. I’m sure that we could make it work, but at this point I am thinking that Singapore with some Keys To.. thrown in will be the best. On the other hand, Dearie and I both reserve the right to change our minds.